


Petals For Chie

by SoullessSerenity



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Happy Ending, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27697166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoullessSerenity/pseuds/SoullessSerenity
Summary: Yosuke obviously knew what Hanahaki was. Quite a few people in Inaba had already caught the disease.But even though he knew what the consequences could be, he still didn't have the courage to just confess to Chie.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Satonaka Chie
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	Petals For Chie

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Day 1 of Persona Rarepair Week! Obviously using the Hanahaki prompt.  
> I'm not very proud of myself for this one, but considering it was the first time I ever wrote for this ship and also the first time I ever even touched Hanahaki, I'm still happy for stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit. (I had a vague idea of what Hanahaki was, but not much else. It always looked interesting, though!)

Yosuke knew what the Hanahaki disease was. Everyone knew what it was. Specially in Inaba, where quite a few cases had already happened.

But he hadn't thought anything was weird when he had started to have trouble breathing very often, even having cough fits sometimes. He just thought he had caught a normal cold. Or maybe Chie had broken one of his ribs somehow.

Oh, yeah, Chie. He had been thinking about her so often. He had always thought her and Yukiko were cute, but he had been noticing more and more things he liked about Chie lately. He had fun with her. He had started to appreciate her dedication and fierceness as well. Truly, if he were to have a girlfriend, he wouldn't mind it if she were to be someone like her.

He hadn't realised what that actually meant the first time he thought of it. But, the more he spent time with her, he realised what he actually felt. He liked her. A lot. He would dare say that he did actually _love_ her.

However, as soon as he had noticed that, he had another coughing fit. He covered his mouth with his hand, and his heart almost stopped when he saw what had come out of it. Petals. Flower petals. A few slightly stained with blood.

His emotional reaction made him cough enough to almost throw up. He had to take sharp breaths to be able to recollect himself.

"Chie…" He mumbled, oddly enjoying the way her name sounded in his voice. So it wasn't just his imagination…

He for some reason had expected it all to be just a bad dream when he woke up the next morning. But the immediate coughing wouldn't let him think that. Specially not when the first person who came to his mind was Chie.

He knew it would be hard to hide his condition now. Yu was perceptive. He knew that. He doubted his cold excuse would work again. But maybe wearing his scarf would help with hiding his cough.

"This is too much coughing for "just a cold"." Yu pointed out.

"At this point you're better off going to a doctor. This could be very serious." Naoto said.

"I-I'm fine, I swear. I might just be a little vulnerable this week."

"But, if it's a cold, shouldn't you be having a runny nose as well?" Chie asked. "A cold bad enough to be lasting this long would have you drowning in snot by now."

Yosuke coughed into his scarf, hoping no petals would come out. "I'm fine."

Fortunately the others had given up on forcing the truth out of him after that. Even when Chie herself had talked to him alone, he wouldn't budge.

"Yu isn't the only one you can rely on, y'know? You… You can count _me_ too." She had told him before leaving.

He had hoped to be able to hide it for a little longer. Just how long that would be, he didn't know. He knew it would only worsen. Hiding it wouldn't change anything.

But… Admitting the truth would also mean the others trying to make him say _who_ he was in love with. And knowing what he did about this disease, he could guess what his answer would be if he confessed right away. He wouldn't say it for now, despite how much his coughing was getting worse each day. He didn't want to make Chie feel guilty about his condition.

Of course it wouldn't take long for him to be incapable of lying anymore. Specially not with what had happened in their own classroom a few days later.

A guy who sat in the back row of the classroom had been coughing a lot for quite a few weeks as well. But, on that specific day, he had started coughing up so much he couldn't even breathe, flower petals spreading all over the floor. He was rushed to the infirmary as quickly as possible, but it still didn't seem to have been fast enough to save him.

And Yosuke, witnessing all of that, had grown more worried about his own condition. It looked like such a painful way to die…

He sneaked out of the classroom as discreetly as possible that day, hoping no one would notice. He did manage to do that part. But, once he was almost leaving the school he had started coughing again. The worst fit he ever had so far.

He leaned on a wall to get some balance trying to cough inside of a trashcan so he'd have as little evidence left behind as possible. Petals came out of his mouth with each cough, and anyone would be able to know what was wrong with him if they saw him.

"Yosuke…"

He freezed. He knew that voice all too well.

"So you _are_ sick! Why didn't you say anything!?" Chie asked him. She was alone.

"Well…" Yosuke tried to speak, but then coughed again. He was starting to run out of breath.

She rushed towards him, patting his back in an attempt to help him. She got one of his arms around her shoulders, as if carrying him. "Here, I'll get you to the nurse."

"No!" Yosuke pushed her away. As much as he liked being close to her, he knew exactly what kinds of questions the nurse would ask him…

"Argh! What is wrong with you!? Didn't you see what happened in our classroom!? You could die!"

"I know that! I'm not an idiot!"

"Then why!?"

Yosuke groaned. There was no point in hiding it anymore. His cheeks warmed up as he spoke. "It's _you_ , okay!?"

Chie frose for a moment, staring at him with wide eyes. "You mean…?"

"Yeah, I like you! A lot! Happy!?" He looked away from her as he spoke, hoping that would make it easier to say. "I didn't say anything because I _know_ you wouldn't feel the same… You're always saying how much of an idiot I am. And maybe I _am_ an idiot for falling for you anyway…" When he looked back at her, he was surprised by how much she was blushing.

"You _are_ an idiot." She took a deep breath, her cheeks growing even redder. "I-I do like you! B-but did you really need to start _dying_ to tell me!?"

He took a step back, his jaw dropping. "You… You _like_ me?"

"I know I'm always calling you an idiot and getting angry at you. But… I _do_ have fun with you. I like having you around. I… I wouldn't mind being closer to you, or something like that… And… You're the last person I'd want to see dying."

Yosuke smiled, tears daring to form in his eyes. So he had hidden everything for so long for nothing. He never had anything to worry about…

But then he started feeling sick. Very sick. He rushed back to the trashcan and petals started pouring out of his mouth again. Except that, this time, there were also leaves and even whole flowers coming out. He felt more like he was 'throwing up' the flowers rather than 'coughing' them. But with every bunch of petals, his chest seemed to feel lighter and lighter.

Chie had offered to call the nurse again, but right as she said that, the petals stopped. Yosuke took deep breaths, and it felt like it had been ages since he could breathe so cleanly.

"I'm cured…" He mumbled. Then smiled and shouted. "I'm cured!"

He impulsively pulled Chie by her shoulders and kissed her, earning a little gasp out of her.

She pushed him away, blushing. "What the hell!? At least give me some kind of warning!"

"Crap. Sorry!" His own face burning up.

Chie had still insisted on dragging him to the nurse's office, just to make sure he really was alright. It turned out that he really had been cured, and he had thrown up the flowers that were growing in his lungs.

And Yosuke was happy. He was happy that the pain was finally gone. But, most of all, he was happy that he'd have Chie by his side now. Hopefully, for as long as he lived.


End file.
